Brown Sugar Tequila Tangerines + The start of a new chapter in my life!

Hiya!

Fair Warning: this is one of those posts where I miiiiight talk a lot. Like a lot about life and what not before I get to the actual recipe. And I promise I will because I love tequila and this drink and I won’t let it loose it’s justice.

Guys! I QUIT MY FREAKING JOB. Yeah. I feel like I am 50% outing myself and 50% screaming it from the rooftops. Mostly screaming it from the rooftops because 1. My grey goose and tonic is kicking in and 2. FREEDOM! If you didn’t know for the last year or so I was working the corporate life as an event planner in downtown Los Angeles and trying to keep up with this blogging platform of mine as full time as I could (this post explains everything better!) I was having 12+ hour days, 5 days a week and trying to work on my blog every waking minute I could in between this job. I would write and edit on the train and slave on the weekends creating content. 

Most of my audience lives on Instagram and this week I finally announced that back in October I had quit my very stable, well salaried corporate event planning job in downtown Los Angeles. Hello, freedom, goodbye, stability. Not really…I padded my savings account and had a good mental plan before I actually did it because I worry about every. single. thing. And I wouldn’t have done it without feeling like 65% ready. Because if I’m being totally honest I probably never would have been actually ‘ready’. 

I am writing this post for two reasons. One, because when I was thinking about quitting my job I would literally go to my favorite blogger’s blogs and actually ‘search’ how they quit their job and try to find the exact post when they did it. Sooooo friends, if you have done that with me… this is it. This is my ‘I quit my corporate job to blog full-time post’. And two, I want to be totally honest with you and every time I went to write a post I felt like I was being sneaky and hiding something.

I’ll be honest, I am genuinely a little concerned how my future will play out. Luckily, #Ihaveacollegedegree because the influencer world is bright but also extremely unknown. I mean, are people going to read this blog of mine like five years from now?! I frickity freaking hope so (we might all have a hologram Alexa or Okay Google in our kitchen in five years!) I have dreams of writing a cookbook and so many goals and aspirations. I know without a shadow of a doubt I am going to give it my all. But sometimes life throws you some pretty shitty variables so this is my formal: Let’s give this a try! 

There are seriously so many important and vital things to this whole ‘story’ of mine. They all seem like small little entities that don’t matter anymore but are this huge culmination of things that has led me to freelance life and my decision to ‘try’. Like commuting TWO HOURS each way to work for a year. Orange county to Downtown Los Angeles is no joke. I’m here to tell you to seriously think about your radius between your workplace and your home. I sacrificed so much to have a little bit of stability right after college.  I could tell you that most Friday afternoons were spent planning out how I would use the valuable 48 hours of each weekend to shoot as much as humanly possible for my blog (plus catch up on some sleep). Oh a social life? I’m just now realizing what that is again. I could tell you that poor Jared and Rascal would literally spend every weekend on the couch watching me elbow deep in the kitchen sink and smelling like onions come Sunday afternoon. But most importantly, I need to tell you that it wasn’t a real life. I was a monster, a workaholic, self destructing monster.

These last two months I have WOKE up. I went a year without a proper diet, exercise and relationship maintenance. I will tell you that I did survive it all (hallelujah!). But you guys… your life and your youth is seriously so precious. I don’t have a mortgage or any huge financial responsibilities and while I am so fortunate for this it was a driving factor that made me realize I should just go for it. I should put myself out there to acquire more styled shoot work and find the best possible sponsored recipe opportunities for you guys to showcase on the blog. To not only make money to support myself but even better content that I would be proud of. I promise I will go into more depths of everything!

This is a HUGE event in my life and I wish I could articulate it better than I did but it really is just a word vomit chapter of my life. Everyday I wake up is a new experiment and a new way to strategize how I will grow and create more for this platform and business (holy shit did I just say business?!) of mine. Before I talk about tequila I do need to formally get on my knees and THANK YOU!!! for being a reader and supporter and helping make all this a reality. Without readerships bloggers wouldn’t be anywhere! 

So to celebrate I couldn’t think of a better (or stronger drink) would do this post justice! Guys, I love tequila. A good marg has gotten me through quite a few nights this last year.. Today’s cocktail recipe is a very cozy and wholesome drink. Sort of a direction that my life has also taken 🙂 

I think I seriously swap out all of my regular sugar for brown sugar this time of year. These cocktails are filled with fresh citrus (hello winter) and lots of throat warming tequila! I also put a splash of cold brew in them because during these winter months I feel like we naturally feel a little lazy due to the cozy nature of the season. So hopefully this cocktail will not only taste great but put a pep in your step! 

I fill a glass and muddle it together with the sugar, tangerine peel and bitters to create this great aroma in the glass. Then comes in the booze. Lots of Anejo and kahlua (or any coffee liqueur really!). If you’re feeling super adventurous you can light a cinnamon stick with a small flame to create a smoky garnish (this really impresses people!) and it’s super fun! So cheers to winter cocktails and to new beginnings! 

Brown Sugar Tequila Tangerines

1 Heaping Tablespoon of brown sugar
2 Dashes of bitters
Tangerine Peel
Juice of a tangerine
2 Ounces of Anejo tequila
1 Ounce of Kahlua or coffee liquer
Splash of cold brew coffee
Crushed Ice

In a glass muddle together brown sugar, bitters and peel for 30 seconds. Add tangerine juice, tequila, Kahlua and stir well. Fill rest of glass with crushed ice and finish off with a splash of cold brew coffee. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and tangerine peel.